Legendary Rebel
by Evergreendusk
Summary: "Shane had a sister once; Drina. He cried over someone once; Tahlia. He loved someone once; Abeke. Shouldn't we all reconsider the true meanings of the boy? Shouldn't we all know how much people can mean to us?"
1. Chapter 1

_**You're probably wondering, 'What's this?' and, well, this is absolutely everything to me. Anix. Anya and Alix. Now, I know most of you are Coneke lovers, so you are kind of forced to ship Shya. But for those awesome Shaneke fangirls (and fanboys), here is ANIX.**_

She didn't want him to go. She knew she couldn't come, couldn't do anything to stop him, but nothing stopped her will. He was going with the Devourer, the merciless, cruel Devourer that certainly didn't have a care for anyone. The one person that she was _pretending_ to care for, just for trust, for a weapon, for nothing real.

Anya didn't like Shane. It was hard to get the point through, near Alix, the one who lost all hope, family, and anything above. Maybe this was a new experience for her, too. _Caring_ for someone. Someone who had a life full of twists and turns, and risking all he had for someone he barely knew. Someone who was as complicated as herself.

There was nothing to it. Trust was all that was left to her, for now.

"Bye," whispered Anya, in a soft voice, choking on the word.

Alix gave a little wave back. He smiled and disappeared onto the deck.

 **X~x~X**

Alix never asked where they were headed. Shane never told them, and he simply never asked. In the end, he had to stay on the boat, when Shane told them; he'd be 'right back'. At first, he believed it. They waited for an hour on the boat. Marita said she'd check on him. She never came back. That was when he started getting worried. He started pacing around, restlessly. The main crew on the ship told him not to worry, told him that they could handle it. So he listened. He listened until his head hurt. The crew never came back, either.

Alix waited for seven days. He waited until there were only about five people left on the ship, including himself.

"Alix!" shouted a voice behind him. It startled him. "Wake up, where's Shane?"

He blinked and come to realize it was Anya. "Why on Erdas are you here? You do realize Shane hates you for life, now, you bastard."

"What did you just call me?"

Alix bit his lip.

"Never mind that," said Anya. "I don't care what you called me, because we both know the real bastard here. The one who was too scared to go out and look for his king himself, or otherwise known as you, Alix." The Amayan sighed and kicked Alix gently. "Come on, let's go."

 **X~x~X**

Karmo let Shane lead him back to his ship. Shane stepped inside with the gracefulness of a cat. Karmo tripped while stepping inside. He cursed softly, realizing who he was facing. Two kids, about the same age as him and Shane, one boy, definitely Stetriolian and an Amayan girl.

"Anya."

Karmo raised an eyebrow. Did Shane know them?

"And Alix," continued Shane. "Tell me why this, _whatever she is_ , is here."

The Stetriolian boy named Alix looked up. "My king," he said, bowing. "She came here-," Alix stopped and looked at Anya. "I let her come here. It was my fault."

Alix was lying; Karmo was so sure of it. He was lying for that Anya girl, to take the blame away from her.

" _Alix_ ," hissed Shane. "I told you _not_ to invite this _traitor_ here. What were you-"

"I like him," interrupted Karmo, "he reminds me of me."

Shane stared at him for a second. "Very well, then. Alix, you are free of punishment."

Karmo smiled a little for his tiny victory.

 **X~x~X**

Anya was pleased with herself. Alix lied. Alix lied _for her_. And he was saved by that boy Karmo. Somehow, someone's opinion mattered so much to Shane that the simple statement of liking relieved a punishment.

When Anya thought about Shane, the only word that immediately popped into her mind was _liar_. Sure, Shane hadn't lied to her, yet she knew snippets of his past, the reason she had to where a bow and arrow. That bit of his past about the girl Abeke. How she had almost killed him, how she had spat _"liar"_ in his face, threatening to leave forever.

When she thought about Alix, the first word was _regret_. Not that she regretted him in any way, but more as he regretted everything. Alix was that boy that never cried, barely argued, because he knew he would regret everything if he did.

If that was how he was, what did that make the person falling for him?

The first word was _memory._

 _ **Okay, don't freak out about this, um, how we put it, weird ship, just ignore the weirdness.  
Ignore my weirdness, too.  
Anyways, not much spice in the first chapter, but it'll come.**_


	2. Chapter 2

Karmo looked down at the piece of paper he was given. "Alix, you cannot be serious."

"I am," said the soldier.

Karmo sighed. After the first week with Shane, Anya and Alix, he had learned people had very strange types of humor, or some, for instance, none at all.

" _Welcome aboard the 'Prince of Stetriol II'. Training starts tomorrow. You will be paid in wood tokens that totally exist,"_ he read, frowning. "Wood tokens, by the way, do not exist and is worth about, hmm, let me think, _NOTHING!_ Absolutely nothing! You're wasting your time writing these papers, Alix."

Alix paused. "My king's orders are my king's orders," he muttered, looking down.

"Why do people respect Shane so much?" puzzled Karmo, half to himself.

Alix merely shrugged.

A clack of the door startled them both. Shane ran into the room, rummaging through some random chests and shelves. Karmo and Alix stayed frozen, right where they were. Karmo didn't speak as Shane finally held an object in his hand and tapped Alix on his shoulder.

"Emergency, let's go."

"Yes sir!"

Karmo still stayed exactly where he was when the door closed behind him, leaving him absolutely alone in the room.

It was his room, anyways, so he didn't think much of it. Not until, exactly thirty-two seconds later, Anya burst into the room, panting.

Without warning, she grabbed his collar, asking: "WHERE IN THE WORLD IS SHANE?!"

"I don't know! He left off with Alix!" Karmo struggled in her grip, swishing around. He suddenly stopped. He knew what to do.

He tugged at her ponytail. Anya cursed. Karmo took that distracted moment to kick out his legs in an arc, forcing her to let go. Luckily, he fell on his feet.

Anya narrowed her eyes. "TELL ME WHERE SHANE IS!"

"Only on one condition, Anya, and that condition is you tell me what the hell happened," he said, despite the fact he had no idea where Shane went.

Anya seemed to consider, for once, but then, acting quickly, slapped Karmo across the face. The truth is, of course, he didn't know. Anya just didn't seem to believe that. He decided that the best chance was a very general answer. He merely pointed outside the door.

The moment Anya ran out the door, Karmo slammed it closed, locking it behind him.

He breathed. The Anya girl was definitely crazy.

Back in Nilo, he'd known a girl like her. She'd wanted everything, but if she didn't get that everything, there was a fifty-fifty chance of dying. He was afraid of those people. He _hated_ those people. They were vain and selfish, and also (unluckily) always around Karmo.

He snapped back to his present self. He noticed something in the corner of his room.

Karmo walked towards a small bit of red stuck on his bedside table. It was a cloth.

He pulled it free. There was a note.

' _Conceal your face, Redcloak. You are Stead, and you shall listen to King.'_

 _ **Anya's POV**_

There was something Shane wasn't telling her. Why shouldn't he? He had told everyone else. Karmo even tried to conceal the fact that he knew about it.

She needed to know. It was her _right_ to know. But she had checked everywhere! Even the men's bathroom!

She paced around on the carpet of the hallway. Where can Shane hide inside a boat?

"Ah!" she screamed, as she tripped on a small bump beneath the carpet. She fell.

Angry, she pulled out her knife and began to trace the bump. The knife wouldn't go any farther than a centimetre. She tried again. This time, she heard a tick. She had hit metal. She cut off the bit of carpet beneath the bump. _A handle_. She lifted the carpet. _A door._

Anya felt her heart skip a beat as she lifted the small door and climbed through.

The stairs felt infinite. The light loomed above her as she climbed one step by one, carefully, until her boots met a wooden platform. She lit her torch with a match. She could see the platform she landed on. She saw her shadow, and with it, another one.

She jerked her head to a very uncomfortable position. "Shane! Come out!"

But it wasn't Shane.

It wasn't Alix.

It wasn't Karmo either.

It was a stranger.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Yes, I changed the picture to a picture of**_ _ **The Burning Tide**_ _ **. That's Shane on the cover, not Conor, just to let you know.**_

"We have something to talk about, Alix." Shane turned and looked at the boy. He paused. "Where's your cloak?"

Alix apologized, and then rushed to get his cloak.

"Wait," shouted Shane, after Alix.

Alix stopped.

"Where did you leave it?"

"Karmo's room," he replied, as simple as possible.

Alix made his way towards Karmo's room and knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked again. Still no answer. Then-

"ANYA, I WILL NOT OPEN THE DOOR FOR YOU, THANKS."

Alix sighed. "It's Alix."

He heard Karmo running to the door in his room. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Have you seen a red cloak?" asked Alix, trying not to tell him what it was all about.

Karmo seemed to hesitate. "I- You can have it if you tell me what's going on. First, Shane drags you out. Then, Anya tried to beat me up. And finally I found a red cloak with a message indicating that it belongs to some guy named Stead. WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

Alix had been told to tell neither Karmo nor Anya. The fact that Anya knew about it worried him. "You can demand King Shane for the answer, Karmo, but it is against my orders to tell you."

"Then you can _demand King Shane_ for the cloak," said Karmo, mockingly. He slammed the door.

He knocked again.

" _What?"_

"May I-"

Before Alix could finish, Karmo slammed the door again.

Alix sighed. He had no choice but to ask Shane for the cloak. He made his way towards the bow of the ship, where Shane's room was. The hallway carpet was red. _And red is the colour of our cloaks, of many roses, and of blood and death,_ he thought, shuddering.

"Where's your cloak?" asked Shane, standing in the doorway. "Did you lose it?"

"I- Well, yes but no. You see, I forgot it in Karmo's room, but Karmo didn't let me have it unless I tell him about…"

"About what?" he demanded.

"About… Everything."

Shane sighed. Alix thought he could hear Shane swearing under his breath.

"Then we'll tell him."

Alix was surprised but he knew better than to argue.

"We'll tell him," repeated Shane again. "He's not Anya. He's trustable. But Anya on the other hand… Don't tell her."

Alix nodded, agreeing, and set off again for the second time towards Karmo's room. He knocked on the door. "Karmo, we're telling you."

"Is this a trick?"

"No."

Karmo opened the door. "So tell me."

 **X~x~X**

Shane paced around his room. He thought of Abeke. Abeke, who trusted just about anyone, the one who trusted him, the one who believed he had greater tasks to accomplish. _If only that were true…_

He had spent countless days thinking if Abeke would ever forgive him. This whole project had been either to accomplish that or to help him forget it.

Shane thought he was crazy.

He thought he had somehow gone mad, or done something wrong. Others thought he didn't have his mind to himself.

So he wanted to prove them wrong. And it wasn't going to be that easy.

But what was he really thinking? What was going on in that mind of his? What did he see when he closed his eyes? _Blood, I only see what I have caused and the responsibility of that destruction. I only realize what type of person I am. I saw an illusion of what I was, and now that the war is over, I see what I had truly done. Whenever I look at myself in the mirror, I saw the ghost of Feliandor, of Gar, of Drina, and of Grahv. I see Feliandor's motions in me; I see Gar's potential, Drina's sickness and Grahv's eyes. People said I was the lucky one without the bounding sickness. I may have not had the bounding sickness, but I was just as sick as Drina._

But he was really looking in the mirror, and he really did see Grahv's eyes. Literally.

Each day, each hour, every minute and second he stood in front of the mirror, his eyes seemed to change. They first developed a strange glow to them. He had first thought he was imagining it. But then they seemed to change colour, more and more yellow than ever. From blue, to turquoise, from turquoise to aqua, as it was now. And yellow, of course, was the colour of Grahv's eyes.

It made him want to hide his face.

He opened the box.

The box contained several things he never wanted to see ever again. They contained memories of people that he would never see again. And every time he opened the box, the haunting laughter of each of the people would ring in his ears.

He had his mother's paintbrush. It was a special one; more of less haunting, he had no idea. Whenever he picked it up, there would be his mother's voice, talking to Drina, and saying: _"This is the prince of Stetriol. He'll never bow to a mere snake."_ And then there was the key to Drina's bedroom. Shane avoided touching it, as if he feared Drina's ghost would come and attack him. There was Abeke's bracelet's, one of them that fell from the time they journeyed to Greenhaven. That time he had lied to her. He found it after the war, still lying on his ship. But it was Tahlia's mask that concerned him the most.

It was plain white, with nothing but slits for the eyes and a breathing hole.

He feared it, because it was the one that held the most memories. He had cared for Tahlia before, despite the last time they met, they tried to kill each other. Even more so, he had succeeded. He had succeeded in doing a crime.

He faced his fears and slipped the mask over his face.

Whenever his mask was on, his name was King.

 **X~x~X**

"Let me get this straight," said Karmo, still facing Alix. "Shane has ' _collected'_ members of Madox' army and made them wear a red cloak, and giving them code names?"

Alix sighed. He shook his head. "No. We get to choose our own name. Mine is Stead. That's why the cloak is mine. You- um, I guess you're welcome to join us if you like…"

"I get to choose my name? Sure then, I'll pick something like, I don't know, Bob or something," replied Karmo, dryly.

"Is that the name of your spirit animal?"

Karmo raised an eyebrow. Alix suspected he didn't really explain well.

He chose Stead, something that described him, or his now-gone spirit animal. Shane chose King because; he was King, the leader of the Redcloaks. Well, that, and something he had said about not being a hero or a villain, but a king. Devin became Worthy. He said he wanted to be worthy, as something he was working on for his whole life.

"No, it's not the name of my spirit animal."

"Then, no," said Alix. "Don't decide this now, decide it later. You have plenty of time to decide. We'll just carve you a mask in the shape of a hamerkop. We'll put a beak and all that stuff."

"I don't want to be reminded of my spirit animal."

This made Alix pause.

Karmo looked terrified. Actually, Karmo always looked terrified. Ever since they met, Karmo always seemed terrified of Alix and Anya. He wasn't terrified of Shane, though, which made thing really weird. Either he was actually scared of them, or he was scared of the way they acted.

Something Alix was about to say would probably terrify him even more.

"Karmo?" asked Alix, in a small voice.

"Yeah…?" responded Karmo, awkwardly.

"Don't get scared if I say this, but…" Alix trailed off, not knowing how to say this. He didn't want to say it. When Shane had said it to him, he was screaming inside, not knowing to obey him, or to neglect him.

"Sure…"

"You have to kill your spirit animal."


	4. Chapter 4

**_I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever, but it's the end of the school year, and there are tests and all that stuff. But guess what? There's book 5-8 spirit animals fall of the beasts! I can't wait!_**

Anya screamed. She hoped someone would hear her. Shane, Karmo and Alix weren't in sight. The man dove for her. Anya tried in vain to remember what her parents had taught her before, about self-defence. She wasn't terribly good at it.

She ducked. It seemed like the only sensible thing she could remember. Her hand fell on her machete and she swiped it, fending the man away.

"Who are you?!" she asked, not terribly excited to know the answer.

The man didn't respond. He grunted, unsheathing his sword and swiped at Anya. Something about him seemed inhuman. Whether it was the blank expression on his face, the way he moved, or the mysterious spiral on his forehead, Anya knew whoever the _creature_ was, he was dangerous.

Yumaris had warned both her and Shane about the Wyrm. The word itself scared her. She remembered Yumaris drawing a swirl, a silver, secretive swirl, and noting it had lots and lots of power. Power was what Shane had wanted for himself. Power was what caused wars. Power had stirred every single battle she could ever think of.

Anya could come to one conclusion: The Wyrm was up to no good.

She knew someone controlled it. Whoever that person was, they were controlling the man headed to Anya's fate.

She backed up the stairs and ran out. The door was blocked. She pushed against it with all her might, but it still wouldn't budge. Luckily, the man was surprisingly slow. Anya kicked the door, and it opened. She ran out, slamming the door closed behind her.

Anya breathed. If she warned Shane and the others now, it wouldn't be too late.

X~x~X

Karmo barely had any time to respond before Anya busted in the door, screaming at them to enter a secret passageway. She screamed at them to get a weapon. She screamed at them to get a box of matches. He had a feeling screaming was Anya's hobby. Karmo didn't trust her. Actually, the only person he trusted on the ship was Alix, only if wasn't obeying some stupid command from Shane.

"Okay, okay, calm down, Anya," Karmo said. "We'll enter. But first, why don't we tell the _spirit animal killer?"_

Alix frowned. "Who's the spirit animal killer?"

Karmo remembered how bad Alix was at taking a hint. "Whatever, let's just go."

Anya led the way down the red carpeted halls of the ship, and stopped at a metal bar, clearly carpet beneath the carpet. She pointed at the ground, and Alix went to work.

He lifted the carpet, and underneath was a trap door.

Not an impressive trap door or anything, but more like a metal plate with six nails and a handle. Karmo knew that Shane was the one who built it. Who else would build some not sturdy, unimpressive, non-strategist trap door?

Karmo decided to stop mentally criticizing Shane and to start helping Alix. He pulled the handle and took a peek. All he heard was screaming.

"I know about this trapdoor," Alix said, slamming the door shut, after he heard the scream. "Shane made it so that it would be easy to get in, but hard for anyone else but him to get out. He would put prisoners here instead of letting them starve to death in Gar's _special prison._ "

Karmo was surprised. "Shane has feelings?"

Anya rolled her eyes. "Duh, of course he does."

"Any proof?"

Alix gave a serious stare. "Shane had a sister once; Drina. He cried over someone once; Tahlia. He loved someone once; Abeke. Shouldn't we all reconsider the true meanings of the boy? Shouldn't we all know how much people can mean to us?"

Karmo fell silent.

Anya nodded at him to open the trap door. For once in his life, he didn't argue. He opened the door, lit a match, and went through, Anya and Alix following close behind him.

X~x~X

In the dim light, Anya huddled close to Alix. There wasn't much she could do at this point, but being close to he made her feel safer.

Karmo was a few paces ahead of them, leading the way. Anya could barely see anything, as the light from the match was so faint, too faint and too far away to see. But she didn't need to see anything.

She felt Alix grab her hand protectively, his fingers twirling around hers. He squeezed it, and she could feel the tension of a smile or a laugh on his face.

Suddenly, the light went out. Karmo screamed. Ahead, Anya knew there was a man. _The_ man. The one who was controlled by the Wyrm, helpless, but still an enemy.

Somehow, the man had a lantern. Anya and Alix charged as one, Anya grabbing her machete, Alix; his sword. Anya came slashing with her machete, crossing her fingers to beat the crap out of the guy.

Alix was the first to draw blood. He drew a knife from his boot and threw it, stabbing the man in the shoulder. The man was furious. His hands grabbed onto Alix, trying to choke him. This gave both Anya and Karmo an opportunity. Karmo came from behind, jumped onto the man, and held his arms up in the air. Anya held his legs in a position that didn't allow any movement. Alix got up, getting the rope from his belt and tied the man's hands and feet together.

Anya took his lantern, holding it up to his face.

Karmo's eyes lit up. "But- but that's Maddox!"

"Who's Maddox?" asked Alix, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean who's Maddox?" Karmo responded. "He's this general, and he's like huge and he made me join his 'elite team' and made me steal stuff. Basically, he's the one who wanted to kill Shane."

Suddenly, Anya heard a noise behind Maddox.

" _He_ might not have succeeded, but _I_ will."


	5. Chapter 5

_**It's been literally forever since I updated this.**_

Shane heard a noise.

He didn't think much of it as he had always heard noises. Simple, single noises, such as the buzz of a bee, or the sound of the fish splashing through the water. Simple, single noises, the ones he missed, the ones he _could_ find solutions to.

But of course, the era of solutions were gone.

Because Shane had no idea where the problems were. Or maybe it was because he had no idea _what_ the problems were. Maybe it was Alix. Maybe it was Anya. Maybe it was Karmo. Maybe it was himself.

More likely, it was Shane's obsession with his insane plan, which tied to Abeke, saving her and the other four fallen from Zerif, who was tied- literally- to the Wyrm, and the Wyrm came from the Evertree, who fell out of the sky.

It was not true that problems did not fall out of the sky.

But he had heard a scream; and that was the problem at the very moment. He knew exactly where the scream was coming from. Not from the left, nor right, but below decks. And that meant one place.

The prison.

 _Everyone's favorite place,_ Shane thought, sarcastically.

Shane made sure he had his saber tucked beneath his jacket.

He headed outside his door, carefully closing it behind him.

He was well aware of the mask on his face and the scarlet red cloak trailing behind him. He wasn't quite sure why he chose red. Perhaps it was that the fabric reminded him of Stetriol. Perhaps it was that the colour was vivid so indicated as dangerous. Or most likely, perhaps it was that the look of the cloak itself reminded him of the flow of blood in his veins, keeping him alive and well enough to rescue enemies of Zerif.

Specifically Abeke.

Shane ran to the red carpeted hallway. The screams got louder and louder and louder and-

He found the trapdoor not closed well and easily opened it. He quietly stepped down, hearing the voices of Alix, Anya and Karmo. He peeked from the winding staircase, careful for the prisoner to not see him.

Apparently, that hadn't worked out so well with Anya running towards him and yelling his name.

The enemy walked over to Shane.

" _James,_ " Shane seethed. "I knew you would be clever enough to break out of Shane's Amazing Prison."

James crossed his arms. In the dim light, Shane could barely make out James' features, other than his platinum blond hair and broad shoulders. "Shane, my long lost step-brother. How's it going?"

"Well, it would have been great but I see you broke in my boat, so not really great."

James grumbled. "You killed my father. I want my revenge."

Shane paused. "I didn't kill your father! I swear!"

Alix walked over to Shane. "He's really mad. He tried to bite Karmo."

"He's a kid," whispered Shane back. "He's eleven. Just got a spirit animal. It's a cat."

"I'm allergic to cats."

"It's best if you go upstairs. Go call two guards down here," Shane whispered.

Alix nodded, running up.

"Face it, kid," Anya snapped. "There's three of us now, and one of you. You're outnumbered."

James grinned in his annoying way. "Yeah, well you're out beaten."

James kicked Anya before anyone else could anticipate it. Anya collapsed onto the ground, probably unconscious.

Shane and Karmo ran to James as one, Shane unsheathing his saber. He ran quickly, jumping on James, Karmo kicking James in the ribs.

Or at least, Shane thought that was what he meant to do.

But James somehow managed to get Shane off him and trip Karmo, kicking _him_ in the ribs. Shane dove for James again before he could knock Karmo unconscious.

This time, he actually kicked James. The boy made a sound of pain but instead of falling down, James somehow landed on his feet. "I'm stronger than ever, Shane. I'm stronger than you, than everyone here. You can never beat me."

The words sounded familiar. Too familiar.

"What have you done?" Shane chocked.

"My dear, innocent, beloved half-brother, you wouldn't know."

There was only one cruel name under James' tongue. One, familiar, true, _liar's_ name. There was only one person in this world that could be hiding underneath James' tongue. One person, one single, powerful, evil person did this.

And now many people, not powerful, good people, had been turned to serve this single man.

Shane grabbed Karmo's lantern, holding it in James' face. He noticed someone on the floor beside unconscious Anya.

 _Maddox? How did he get here?_

James took the distraction to punch Shane in the face, knocking him down and making everything black out.

 _ **X~x~X**_

Alix explained the situation as fast as possible to two of the nearest guards. Bad luck was the only problem. In fact, it was a reoccurring problem. It happened to Alix as often as Lovvorn falling down a flight of stairs, which, according to Lovvorn's assistant, was every single time he met a new staircase.

"So do we have to go down there?" the first one asked. "Or do we just stand here?"

The other guard slapped him across the face. "What's wrong with you, Guy? We have to go down!"

"But I'm scared!" Guy whimpered, in his strange, low, unsettling voice.

"I'm going down alone," the second guard said. "I'm definitely going down alone."

Alix put one hand on Guy's shoulder. "If you were scared, why did you become a guard?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "My sister here was joining so why not?"

"Actually, I was only joining to help you get over your unique mental issues which don't even exist," retorted the second guard.

Alix turned to the female guard. "Can we just go?"

The female guard shrugged. "Sure. My name's Destiny by the way. Dessy for short."

Alix and Dessy headed to the hidden trapdoor, finding it open wide. Alix went down. _Silence._ It wasn't supposed to be silent. Alix held his lantern up high. _Empty._ It wasn't supposed to be empty. Alix stepped onto the floor of the prison. _Blood._

There wasn't supposed to be blood.

He found Karmo and Anya on the ground. Most likely, that had meant Shane was running after the criminal. They were alive, to his relief, but the boy and Maddox were missing. He looked carefully, searching for clues, searching for answers to the questions he was also searching for. There was nothing.

But Alix looked even more closely, using more of his senses, all at once, and he had found something.

His hands felt an unusual texture of the ground. His ears heard his heart drumming faster. His mouth tasted of anxiety. His eyes saw a trail of blood. And his nose smelt death.

Death of the still living.

There was something to come, and Alix knew it. He knew it so well. He knew it from his own experience. And his experiences were not so great.

"Warn the captain," Alix commanded Dessy. "Tell him we have an assassin on board."

"Anything else?"

"Yes," he began, mouth trembling. "Tell him we're all probably doomed."

 _ **Wow, don't you just love cliff hangers?  
XD  
~Alice**_


	6. Chapter 6

**_I'm trying out the app on my phone_**.

Karmo woke up with an intention of stabbing someone. Usually, he was fine without having to do something violent. Today was not what people called _usually_. Because _usually_ was not what people called today.

Unless if you usually got beaten up in a secret prison by an eleven year old boy. Karmo didn't judge.

"Alix," Karmo called, to the boy sitting next to him.

"Karmo."

They fell silent.

Alix stood up, brushing his pants. He headed over to Anya, still unconscious, bending down next to the girl. Karmo had no interest whatsoever about Anya. All he knew and cared about was that she was somewhere in between a psychopath and dead. Karmo preferred the second one.

Karmo looked around, use to seeing Shane looming around somewhere in the shadows, stalking him or something. He wasn't there.

"Where's Shane?" he asked, breaking the settling silence.

Alix turned around, looking at Karmo. "I- I don't know."

"Where's Maddox?"

"I don't know."

"Where's James?"

The answer was another 'I don't know'.

"So just to clarify," Karmo began, walking up to Alix and jabbing a finger in his face, "you have no idea where the psycho people are, not including Anya, of course, and you have no idea where Shane is. WHAT KIND OF _LOYAL ASSISTANT_ ARE YOU?!"

Alix didn't move.

 _And to think Devin was bad enough._

 _"_ I sent a guard to warn the captain. And to find the _psycho_ people, plus Shane."

Karmo rolled his eyes in an exaggerated way. " _Oh, hi, I'm Alix, and I was too lazy to serve my 'master' so I sent a random guard to just warn the captain and find Shane, even though I know the guard will probably be useless anyway, but I still call myself a loyal assistant to the spirit animal killer. Heheheheh."_

 _"_ I think my voice is deeper than that."

Karmo earnestly slapped Alix in the face.

"And my laugh was a bit off."

"That's not the point!" Karmo shouted, face palming. "When in the world will you learn to _take a hint_? _You_ should be the one to go find Shane. _You_ should be the one to warn the captain. _You_ should be the one to track James. _Don't you understand_?"

Alix looked like he understood, for once. He went upstairs. Karmo followed. He searched in everyone's room, scaring people. Karmo followed. He went to the captain. Karmo followed. He went in the women's bathroom.

Karmo did not follow.

Alix came out, minutes later, with a beaten up face. "Girls are crazy..."

Karmo chuckled.

They continued on for an hour.

"Where can they be?" Karmo asked. "And who was the guard that you sent?"

Alix gasped from running for way too long. "The guard... Is named... Destiny..."

"The one who has no family?"

Alix looked like he had finally been surprised. "But Destiny said..."

"Your issues are plenty. I thought you knew," Karmo said, casually. "Shane let her live here and serve as a guard because of her skill"

"Wait, so Guy is-"

Karmo raised an eyebrow. "Why are we bringing Guy in this situation? He has nothing to do with it." He assumed Alix's talent was trusting people who were never meant to be trusted.

Alix's jaw dropped.

"Whatever," he finally said. "Let's just go warn the rest of the people on this damn ship."

They did that, dropping two hours in the mix.

Anything Karmo heard concluded with "Shane isn't here," or "Sorry, I haven't seen him." Nothing was actually helpful, needless to say.

"If no one's seen him, there's only one place he could be," Alix finally stated. "The Staircase Lift."

"The _what?_ "

"A secret room."

"How many secret rooms are there on this huge ship?"

Alix didn't respond. Instead, he stalked to the only proper staircase there was on the ship; which lead up to the open area. He seemed to count the steps, one by one, counting up to the eighth step. On the ninth, he touched the metal, knocking on it for a certain sound, Karmo assumed. Apparently, the process had taken longer than he thought it would take. He then kicked the space where the certain sound was, two, three times.

Nothing happened.

He stomped on it.

Nothing happened.

He picked Karmo up and used his weight to knock down the step or something like that while Karmo screamed in the air.

Nothing happened. Except that Karmo got a bit of blood, soaking his feet and pooling on the staircase, soon going to drown them, just minus the excitement. "Ow," he complained to Alix, who paid no attention.

"It's locked," Alix stated. "Someone's definitely in there. You can only lock the Staircase Lift from the inside. Usually, I can easily open it."

"Usually? How many times have you been in this ' _Staircase Lift'_ thing?"

Alix shrugged.

"This is why I don't trust Shane," Karmo said, to no one in particular, while painfully trying to heal his feet.

Alix shrugged.

He leaned on the staircase, listening for voices. Karmo did the same, only less elegantly.

A man headed down the stairs. It was Guy. "Weirdos," he said, avoiding them.

Karmo nearly chocked with laughter.

"Somethin' funny, punk?"

Karmo stopped laughing.

The thing with Guy was this: He was a panphobic psycho that could look scary whenever he wanted to. Karmo decided that people were very, _very,_ unique. Especially ones who would smash their friends feet on a staircase and then find out that the staircase was locked.

"So, uh, Alix?" Karmo asked.

"Yeah?"

"Will you tell me something genius in your mind that has to do with the topic of unlocking the ninth stair of this staircase?" he suggested. "Maybe so that I could _help_ you?"

Alix shrugged.

Karmo was getting annoyed of Alix's shrugs.

"ALIX! I said-"

Alix cut him off. "I know what you said. I barely know anything about this secret room, other than the fact that it has two entrances, one here and one by smashing the window."

"Then what can we do?!" Karmo said, hopelessly. He got up and walked down the staircase.

Alix grabbed his arm before he could go down the last step. "Just listen to the voices."

Karmo listened.

"You are a failure, Maddox!" one voice screamed.

"James, I-"

"Master told me, if you had not captured Shane, you must be sent to a tiny, dangerous quest, which involves going underground," the voice, which was James, threatened. "And, just to let you know, I'm completely fine with that. It doesn't have anything to do with me, and that's just the way I want it. You are to be thankful that I have saved you from those useless brats."

Maddox, the other voice, fell silent.

"Your daughter is promoted to be in your place instead."

Maddox muttered a question Karmo couldn't hear, but it sounded like ' _Which one?'._

"The one who doesn't have a job already. Daycee, the younger one, of course."

Something heavy fell. "Tina is just fifteen! What does she do? Climb mountains? Why didn't anyone tell me anything? She's _my_ daughter."

James let out a laugh. "Because, Maddox, word gets passed around too quickly. Gossip. It's all over the place. We wouldn't want anyone to know about the Master's plan, do we?"

Maddox didn't respond.

Karmo lifted his head off the staircase. "This is useless. We already know James, Maddox and Shane are in there. We don't know how to get them out! Except for the fact that they have to go out one way, we have no idea how we're going to get them."

"Wait. When Anya first went down the prison, James wasn't there. How can he break into a ship?" Alix asked. "And, uh, mentioning Anya, I think we should go get her."

Karmo simply shook his head.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't trust her," he reasoned.

Alix stood up from the staircase, eyeing Karmo with his dark brown eyes. "If you will not trust anyone on this ship, you will not become a Redcloak. And if you do not become a Redcloak, I guess you can live as an exiled ex-Conqueror boy that rejected a once-in-a-lifetime chance of proving yourself." He raised his voice. "You don't know the boundaries, do you? You don't know what to say, except for your stupid, _stupid,_ smart mouth responses which _wasted_ words. You don't know patience, do you? You don't know how to sit there and listen to people. But don't worry, _Karmo,_ we'll _teach_ you."

Karmo tried to not feel the guilt that quickly spread in his mind.

"We'll teach you where the boundaries are, how to be patient, and how to treat your peers. I promise, we will."

" _How?"_ Karmo asked, raising his voice to top Alix's.

"Devin Trunswick," Alix simply said, "is in need of a friend."

X~x~X

Anya woke up with the intention of breaking something.

Preferably James' leg.

She got up, and, by instinct, she ran. She ran upstairs, to her room, got a couple of knives, running everywhere, trying to find Shane, Karmo and Alix.

There wasn't much difficulty when it came to the task of finding Karmo and Alix shouting to each other.

"Hello boys," Anya greeted, coolly but coldly.

Alix nodded his greeting while Karmo rolled his eyes.

Anya eyed them both suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"She found out our secret," Alix joked.

"She found that you were pregnant?" Karmo asked Alix, also joking.

"No, she found out that she was the father," Alix responded.

This did not make Anya happy. " _BOYS!_ This isn't a time for joking."

Karmo chuckled. "Yes, Mom."

Anya slapped Karmo in the face. "Don't you ever call me that again," she said, although she knew sounded like one. It didn't matter now, because Karmo fell silent, and Alix probably realized his joke was a bit _overboard,_ and face palmed. Anya wanted to slap Alix in the face, too, but she knew he would have either little or no reaction.

"Now one of you tell me where Shane is," she commanded.

They both pointed to the staircase.

"I told you. This is no time for joking."

"This isn't a joke, Anya," Karmo stated. "There's a freaking room in there."

Anya didn't believe him at first.

"Listen, Anya," advised Alix.

Anya attempted to raise and eyebrow. "To what?"

"To the ninth stair," he responded.

She found it very bizarre that she had to press her ear to the staircase. But they were right. There were voices. The man named Maddox' growls and complaints, James' shouts and laughter, a girl's impatience and sarcastic humor.

Shane's screaming.

Wait.

"Shane's screaming," she told Alix.

He quickly bent down to listen.

"They're threatening him," Alix guessed.

Karmo, though, did not bend down to listen. Instead, he said, "James broke in this ship. My question for you staircase lovers is, _how?_ How did he break into a ship floating in the middle of an ocean? How did no one notice?"

Both Anya and Alix got up.

"Shane's in trouble!" Anya shouted.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, but listening to his sounds of suffocation won't help us rescue him."

Anya grumbled.

"He has a point..." Alix said.

Anya flipped her hair. "Then what do you suggest, genius?"

"That we find a way to break in there and rescue- Where the hell is Alix?"

Anya pivoted. There was no Alix.

"Meet Joe," Alix said, suddenly appearing from behind with a man that was extremely muscled. "He's going to smash the staircase."

Anya and Karmo exchanged expressions.

"Now usually, that would be a weird thing to say, but since today isn't what people call a _usual_ day, I'm pretty excited to see this Joe break aluminum."

Anya agreed.

"I'm going upstairs first."

 ** _I'm starting to ship Alix with Karmo._**


	7. Chapter 7

_**I'm going to finish a Fanfic that's not this Fanfic before I write another one. (I'm probably not.)**_

 _ **Also, I just wanted to let you know that I'll update more because in a week, I'm going to be swallowed by that treacherous building people call secondary school.**_

Alix stood above the Lift, waiting for Joe to beat the crap out of the staircase. Joe jumped on the staircase, which came smashing down right after he did so.

"On the count of three. One," Anya counted, eyeing both Alix and Karmo, "two, three!"

Alix jumped down the huge hole Joe made, landing perfectly on his feet. Karmo and Anya, coming from below, skittered to a stop in front of the empty secret room.

"They're not here," Karmo said.

"But- but they have to be! Where else can they be? It's not like they can hide anywhere!"

Karmo looked over to every side of the small, secret room. "Looks like you made that dramatic entrance for nothing, Alix."

"It was a jump," Anya argued, pointlessly.

"It certainly was," Karmo said.

Alix put a hand to his head, kneeling on the floor of the secret room. "I don't understand! How can they just break in and out of this ship without anyone noticing? It's a ship, for God's sake! It's floating in the middle of an ocean!"

"Well unless James and Maddox and that other girl have-"

Alix paused at this, twisting his head a little. "What other girl?"

Anya looked as if she'd seen Santa Claus ridding his sleigh up in the sky. "You know, that other girl with James and Maddox. Or at least, I think it was a girl, if I identified the voice correctly, but it might have been someone like Karmo, who talks in a relatively high pitched voice for a boy."

Karmo didn't look too pleased.

"That girl wasn't talking when Karmo and I listened."

"Maybe it was just Karmo that I heard, then," Anya said, half mockingly. "It isn't much of a big deal."

"So what do we do?" Alix asked, making heads turn to him. "I mean, for a kid, James is powerful. And Maddox is a nightmare. And that girl you were talking about that's not Karmo is probably somewhat magical. She probably broke into the ship with teleportation skills or something like that. We can't take them on our own."

Karmo gave a nod in contribution.

"We have Joe."

"We need more than just _Joe._ " Karmo said the name as if it were some dirty word he despised.

To this, Joe looked up from whatever he was doing and growled at Karmo, who might as well give a full-on speech apologizing for saying Joe's name like that, if it wasn't for Alix himself advising Joe to take his anger on a nearby, unfortunate watermelon.

"We need a watermelon, too," Anya told them, "in case he tries to pound one of us into fresh meat."

Karmo's lips curled into a smile. "Thank you Anya. We do need watermelons," his smile grew, "just not for the same reason."

X~x~X

Alix should have known Karmo had a terrible idea in mind when the phrase included two words, _watermelon,_ and _reason._

Those two words put together could possibly create another war, but one with watermelons as cannonballs

And that was practically Karmo's plan, the way Alix had read it.

"We'll take three small boats," Karmo had said. "One, Alix will tend with Joe and it's filled with some boring, classical weapons. Connected to that one with rope that we can easily cut is Anya's, tending two crates of watermelons. I will attach my boat, too, and I will also load it with two crates of watermelons. Everyone will have at least two weapons with them, so in case we run out of watermelons, we can always defend in the boring, classical style."

"Why _watermelons_?" Alix had asked.

"Because you already take up so much weight on the ship, there's no way for them to stay here without drowning it," Karmo joked, attentively.

Although Alix knew it wasn't the truth, he accepted the response anyway, as a joke, hopefully.

Anya seemed to be in agreement with the idea. Alix just thought it was straight out ridiculous.

"Will we be notifying the captain?" Anya had asked.

Karmo had simply shaken his head, the smile still clear on his face.

X~x~X

Shane didn't know where he was. He didn't know where he was most of the time in his life, but this case wasn't simply about being lost in his thoughts. He had to want to know where he was to actually know where he was.

Because there was only one thing that mattered at this moment; escape.

Escape

His hands tied with metal cuffs and his eyes blinded with cloths, there was only his cry of help that could allow another being to save him. But Shane didn't cry for help; he didn't want anyone else but he himself to be half the rescuer, and that would be harder, however, the scale from easy to difficult was nothing but measurement at this point.

Magic

There was another key to escaping, and it was exactly this. Shane wasn't much of a magician when it came to handcuffs and blindfolds, but his verbs were the wands that were true to their own nature.

Shane the Devourer had a fearful image, but that was not the image he needed to get out of his situation. Shane the thirteen-and-a-half year old had an innocent image, but despite what most people would think, that was also not the image he needed at the moment. He needed Shane the traitor.

It was his most untrustworthy image to begin with, and he needed his captors to pay close attention to him, and nothing else. He needed to look suspicious, to look smart, to look as cunning as possible.

He heard footfalls down the steps. Perfect. It was his time to shine.

Shane struggled with the hands on his back, but not enough to make too much noise. He blinked his eyes as fast as he could, testing to see if his eyelashes were really as stiff as Drina had told him it was. He could feel the sienna colour lift from his face as he thought about his sister.

It was his fault, no one else's.

Shane had always been a person to put the blame on others. He tried to change that, not just for himself, but for people like Alix, Anya, Karmo and most of all, Abeke.

And there it was again; the blame.

He needed to shut his emotions at the minute, as the guards were approaching.

"Don't bother with the handcuffs and blindfolds, big brother," James, as Shane assumed, told him. Then, to whatever other people there were, "We need more guards with the Devourer."

"Ex-Reptile King," corrected Shane.

James just laughed.

A pair of footsteps rushed up the stairs, then came back down with more footsteps.

"Keep the 'Ex-King' here," James commanded. "I'm going upstairs to get the watermelon juice."

The guards laughed.

James wasn't kidding, Shane assumed, as he heard faint, calm, footsteps go up the stairs and come back down.

"Shane," called a voice, which had clearly not been there a moment ago.

It was Maddox.

" _You're_ the watermelon juice?" Shane asked.

To his surprise, the guards, and even James, laughed.

"Hey, just because I've been demoted doesn't mean I can't beat the crap out of one or all of you."

"No," a female guard reasoned, "it only means that you'll be demoted again if you do that."

Shane heard a crystal clear punch of a skull ring out in his ears. Everyone was silent.

James sighed. "I can't believe I'm eleven and I can take care of myself better than all you adults can." He sighed again. "Watermelon, go take her to the infirmary." He paused to add, "And bring her back in one piece, please."

Shane was about to comment on that when something hit the floor.

"A watermelon."

 _ **This is probably the last update before I get swallowed by the Unwind fandom.  
It's probably the second last update before I get swallowed by the black hole more commonly known as school.  
I'm gonna go search up what the phobia of watermelons is called now.**_

 _ **~Alice**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**I love updating this one. It's interesting. But then again, I know exactly how it'll end and it's not the best way.**_

 _ **Spoilers ahead, tons of them.**_

 _ **And I don't mean to mock you if you have Cucurbitaceaeophobia. I really don't.**_

Anya glanced at Guy, a worker on the ship whom Karmo captured and used for this mission, who was currently handing her a watermelon. It was a small one, but heavy with water, one she suspected grew in Stetriol. She, Karmo and Alix snuck onto the ship.

There was a flight of stairs, footsteps and chatter grew loud, and Alix dropped his watermelon due to the element of surprise. The watermelon tumbled down the stairs as they heard screaming.

Maybe Karmo's plan wasn't so bad after all.

Anya headed down the stairs, watermelon in one hand and machete in another. Karmo and Alix followed her instinctively.

A man Anya encountered before ran to her with surprising speed. Anya instinctively threw the watermelon to his face, and he screamed in surprise, dropping his sword.

Karmo smiled.

"Maddox, sir, would you like me to cut that in half for you?"

Apparently, Karmo didn't wait for and answer as he sliced the watermelon in half with a sword, as Maddox screamed even more.

Karmo made a gesture for Alix to head back and grab a box of watermelons.

An attacker came from behind Karmo, swiping a spear at his head. Karmo spun and duck, throwing his watermelon at him.

The attacker also screamed, like he never saw a green fruit in his life.

Anya kicked the attacker in the chest, knocking him down. She barely had any time to celebrate her first victory as another one came attacking from behind.

Karmo leaped on top of the attacker, so suddenly.

"Thank-"

"Thank me later."

Alix arrived down the stairs with Joe and the rest of the watermelons.

The attackers paused when they saw Joe and scurried away.

"HEY!" yelled a voice from another room. The door bust open from that room. "You cowards! Come back here and fight!"

Apparently, that voice had been eleven year old James, who also saw Joe and sent a small fleet of warriors to get ahead of him.

The warriors charged.

Anya prepared.

They charged, and ran as fast as they could… to the staircase.

"So come on here and fight us yourself, boy," Alix challenged.

James laughed. "No need." He gestured to a hooded companion. The companion brought out a chair with a boy tied to it. "This is Shane, my half-brother. I believe you have all met him before."

"No kidding," Karmo muttered.

James ignored him. "He was a king, at one moment. He was a ruler, under the pressure of our uncle. He rode a fearsome crocodile, and tried to stride his way to glory while all of us lived under bad labels. But now-"

Anya never knew what now meant for Shane, because Alix dove at James with his sword. He slashed, but only used it as a distraction to kick James down, putting one foot on his chest to announce the victory. "But now he is _still_ our king! It's his name, and a name can never be erased! He might still be Devourer, or the Traitor, but he will always be a king! _Our_ king. And nothing can erase that."

X~x~X

There had been an agreement.

Now, agreements were never fair, because there's no such thing as fair. This one was far beyond fair, but it was in Karmo's favor, so he didn't complain.

"We'll take the ship, you have the three boats. And guess what? You can have all the watermelons left on the boats! Maddox never let us eat them, as his army, so that's our free gift to you!" Shane had told them.

The army didn't do much but nod, at the sight of Joe.

"Wait!" Anya had called, after the twenty or so people tried to fit inside three small boats. "What's the ship's name?"

"The _Expiator_ ," a hooded woman had said.

So they sailed the Expiator, a fast and small ship all the way to catch up with the Redcloaks' main ship; The _Reunite_. They assigned a captain to the _Expiator_ and divided their people. Karmo, Alix, Anya and Shane stayed on the _Reunite_ , sailing to some obscured place, which didn't seem to want to be found.

But at the moment, he didn't like the ideas Alix were giving Shane.

Of course, he wasn't supposed to be eavesdropping on the conversation, but at this point, Shane didn't seem so much of a scary leader.

"We will send Karmo to fetch Devin Trunswick."

"He's a Bile bonder?" Shane asked. "Oh, right, yes, along with Karmo, Ana and Tah- I meant, that other girl." Shane paused for a second. "But why do you want to send him alone?"

"I want him to learn some sense," Alix seethed.

Karmo bust into the room. "Stop, Alix! I really don't want to fetch some bully for some army! He won't help."

Shane looked at Alix, then Karmo. "You don't have to go alone."

"Yes he does!"

Shane sighed. "Alix, there's a mirror on that wall. I see it, Alix, your _change_. Your eyes. And Karmo, you too. This is the first step. Yumaris has the next one already, the _ability_."

Karmo looked at the mirror for the first time in what it seemed like forever. His eyes- they were _broken_. "The first steps to what?"

It was a question Shane didn't answer, and Karmo knew it was because he didn't _know_ how to answer it.

"Devin Trunswick is in the same situation as you. He needs help."

"Well I'm not going to give it to him," Karmo said.

"Not alone, you won't," Shane argued, with a final note. "Here's the plan. Karmo, you are the one to recruit Devin, but you won't be the one to fight if there is one. According to Yumaris, Devin is near Trunswick at the moment, and he wants to go there. Take the _Expiator_ with you and the crew. Now I have a meeting with Yumaris, so I have to go."

Shane rose from the chair in his office and walked out the door, not seeming to care whether or not Alix and Karmo move out.

"I'm worried about him," Alix said, once Shane was gone.

"Yeah you are," Karmo responded. "When you need redemption from the world, your allies are always worried for you."

"No, that's not it. Shane _wants_ redemption from the world, but he _needs_ redemption from Abeke. And he's going to earn that redemption, no matter what it takes."

"Even death?"

"Even death."


End file.
